Much Ado about Not Very Much: The Electoral Consequences of Postal Voting at the 2005 British General Election

Authors: Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael; Borisyuk, Galina

Source: British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Volume 12, Number 2, May 2010 , pp. 223-238(16)

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Abstract:

The liberalisation of the rules covering postal voting attracted a good deal of attention during the 2005 general election campaign, including several allegations of fraud and malpractice. This article uses both survey and aggregate-level data to examine the increase in the numbers of postal voters and its impact on both turnout and party choice at that election. It demonstrates the legacy of the all-postal voting pilots held between 2000 and 2004 in prompting a rise in the postal electorate, and a consequent reduction in the correlation between constituency marginality and turnout. In general, however, postal voting on demand did not prove to be a panacea for the turnout `problem' and had only a very weak effect on the distribution of party support.

Keywords: postal voting; 2005 general election; turnout; absentee ballots

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2010.00403.x

Affiliations: 1: LGC Elections Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK

Publication date: 2010-05-01